The company has begun testing its self-driving fleet within The Villages, Florida and plans to start rolling out a door-to-door self-driving taxi service for residents early this year.

Villagers love their lifestyle and driverless technology offers a promising new option for staying mobile and active in a safe, affordable way.

— Kelsea Morse Manly, The Villages

When the service is fully operational, all 125,000 residents will be able to summon a self-driving car and travel anywhere within the community fully autonomously.

The self-driving vehicles promise to give residents access to more than 100 dining options, eight grocery stores, assorted sports facilities and nearly eight million square feet of commercial and retail buildings. The Villages is spread over 40 square miles and, in 2014, ranked as the fastest-growing US city for the second consecutive year.

“Villagers love their lifestyle and driverless technology offers a promising new option for staying mobile and active in a safe, affordable way,” said Kelsea Morse Manly, Director of Operations at The Villages.

“Whether it’s helping those with Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, vision impairment, or just those who want to get around with less friction, we’ve seen first-hand the positive impact autonomous transportation can have for seniors,” said Voyage CEO Oliver Cameron in a blog post announcing the programme.

(Image courtesy of Voyage)

“With Voyage’s successful deployment at the 4,000-resident Villages in San Jose, we are now energized to tackle the challenges of a city-scale community and beyond.”

High-resolution mapping of the 750 miles of road within the community is being provided through a partnership with autonomous vehicle intelligence firm CARMERA. The company will provide Voyage’s self-driving cars with continuously updated localisation and navigation-critical data.

Voyage is not the only company looking at how autonomous vehicles might benefit elderly people and those with limited mobility. In Australia, care homes provider IRT Group is piloting driverless cars with residents of one of its aged care communities, allowing them to travel independently to appointments or to meet up with friends and family.

As the automobile enters an era of ADAS and autonomous driving, the Chinese ADAS and autonomous driving market was worth about RMB5.9 billion in 2017 and is expected to reach RMB42.6 billion in 2021, according to a new report from ResearchandMarkets.com.

Driven by the development of autonomous vehicles, increasing concerns for driver and vehicle safety and a growing focus towards reducing transportation costs, artificial intelligence in the transportation market is projected to reach US$3.5 billion by 2023, according to a report by P & S Market Research.

Helped by shared mobility services, which are set to account for nearly two-thirds of the market, the global autonomous driving market is expected to grow to $173.15 billion by 2030, according to new research from Frost & Sullivan.

The rapid deployment of autonomous vehicles, driven by OEMs, could lead to as many as 8 million consumer vehicles shipping in 2025 with Level 3 and Level 4 automated driving technologies, according a to new report from ABI Research.

The EU’s eCall mandate and rising adoption in China will be primary drivers of the growth that could see more than 125 million connected passenger cars with embedded connectivity shipped by 2022, according to new research from Counterpoint Research.

The connected car market could reach USD219.21 billion by 2025, thanks to government mandates supporting connected car technology and an increase in demand for a safer, more efficient and convenient driving experience through connected services, according to a new report from MarketsandMarkets.